


Small Kindnesses

by Epiphanyx7



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Acts of Kindness, Gen, Kindness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-23
Updated: 2010-05-23
Packaged: 2018-03-20 20:59:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3664779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Epiphanyx7/pseuds/Epiphanyx7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel finds a wealth of things as he searches the earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Small Kindnesses

**Author's Note:**

> These are some of the places that Castiel did not find God.

In Tokyo, Castiel helps an old woman to cross the street. He is not quite sure if she needed the help, but her firm, strong voice had called out to him. "Young man," she'd said, wizened old eyes looking up at him, and he had felt the sudden shock, being called young. "Help me across the street," and he had held her arm as gently as he could and walked with her.

A small girl in Winnipeg falls down, scraping her knee and landing hard on her palms. Castiel lifts her to her feet, kneeling down in the gravel in front of her and picking out the small pieces of rock and dirt. The wounds close when he does so, and the girl does not cry, although her eyes are wide with awe and perhaps a little bit of fear as well. Castiel does not speak to her, and he leaves as soon as she is healed.

He stumbles upon three hunters in Kenora attempting to destroy a Wendigo. Castiel is there for only a moment, long enough to nudge a shotgun close to a fallen hunter's hand, long enough to fix the mechanism on the flamethrower that had prevented it from working. He is gone in a heartbeat, his wings dragging him far from the hunters and their fight.

A small group of nomads in Egypt stare at Castiel with wide, scared eyes. They do not speak English, but he understands their words. "Angel," they call him, smiling, offering him water and rest. He refuses to take their supplies, but he corrects their course, ensures that they will find the oasis they are looking for out on the shifting sands.

Deep in the jungle, a butterfly is born. It does not have a name, has never been seen before by human eyes. Castiel watches to ensure that it has safely wriggled from its shell. When he is satisfied that the small frail being will live, he flies away. The butterfly suns its wings, unknowing. It will never realize that for a short moment of its life, it had been cared for by an Angel of the Lord.

A cat in an alleyway gives birth to a litter of four kittens. One of the kittens is born still and unmoving, a brush of Castiel's fingers restores it's spark of life. The alley-cat is exhausted, has no energy to do more than lick his fingers in gratitude. Her tongue is rough, drags on his skin in a way that is strange but not quite unpleasant. Castiel leaves her there, comforted by her quiet manner and the soft purring of her kittens.

A woman at a bus stop gives Castiel five dollars and tells him to step into a coffee shop to warm up and buy a hot drink. Her mind is filled with patience and compassion, and Castiel realizes that she thinks that he is homeless, and wants him to be warm. He doesn't notice the cold because he is an Angel of the Lord.

"Go on, dear," the woman says, and there is so much kindness in her eyes. "Buy yourself some tea, a sandwich, something."

She wants to do something nice for him, wants him to be warm and safe for a few minutes. Fingers clenching in the soft, crisp bill, Castiel nods at her, and he waits for her to climb safely aboard the bus. He does not go into the coffee shop, because he has work to do -- important work, searching for his father. Instead, he puts the bill in his pocket, promising himself that when his work is finished, he will use it to buy himself a hot drink and a sandwich, like the woman had wanted.

In California, Castiel spends three hours combing a beach, helping a sunburned young woman in a white hat search for her missing locket. He finds it half-buried in the sand, small links of gold that had shone softly in his angelic sight -- not the gold, but the love that had forged the links, the emotion that tied the girl to this piece of her family history. She smiles and thanks him when he places the locket in her hand, and Castiel nods in acknowledgment before he leaves.

Seattle sees him in the back of a taxi-cab, holding a stranger's hand. "My name is Maria," she says, and her Spanish accent is so thick that he can't help but respond in Spanish. Her hand squeezes his, her breath coming in harsh and panting, and Castiel does not complain about the tightness of her grip. Instead, he speaks to her in Spanish, asking her about her family. He learns a lot about Maria, learns of her troubles and her difficulty in moving to America. He learns that her husband had died three months ago, and that she must take care of her children alone.

"You will want for nothing," Castiel says. "God will care for you."

Maria laughs, still squeezing his hand, so hard it might be considered painful. "No," she says. "I will take care of my children, God has more important work than to care for me."

Castiel disagrees. God should care for all of his children -- even this Maria, who is capable and strong. He sees her to the hospital, and does not stay long enough to see the child born.

A man stands on a rooftop in Chicago, willing himself to have the strength to jump. Castiel pauses when he sees this, and something in him tugs him closer to the man on the edge.

"What are you doing?" He asks, and the man turns to him with a tear-streaked face, eyes full of despair.

"I want to die," the man says, and Castiel reaches out with one hand and pulls him from the edge, gently as he dares.

"You do not deserve to die," Castiel says, looking deep into the man's soul. "You are a good person, a good father, a good husband. You are valued and loved. You must seek help for your depression, Lance. It stems from a neurotransmitter imbalance, and your wife and children will only be supportive of you."

Stepping towards Castiel, Lance looks at him, sees him clearly for the first time. "Who are you?" he asks, and his voice is filled with wonder.

"I am an angel of the Lord," Castiel says.

He takes Lance to the emergency room, and then he resumes his search.

In Munich, he pauses to guide a blind man around a puddle in the road.

In Pamplona, he holds the door open so that a group of children can pour into the library. They are dripping wet from the rain and their laughter is a soothing balm to Castiel's soul.

He finds anger and cruelty and kindness, compassion and echoing empty halls of churches long abandoned.

He finds small kindnesses in unexpected places, prostitutes who point him towards shelter from the storm, homeless men who offer to share their fire, priests who offer him comforting words. Waitresses offer him cups of coffee, diner owners give him thin slices of pie and bowls of steaming hot soup. He finds children who search for hours for missing pets, he finds parents who search for years for their missing children, and he stops a man's heart when he pauses in Hong Kong and sees him strike a young child. Castiel helps foster parents find children they can love, leaves small gifts on doorsteps for sad people to find.

In Minsk, he places an uncut diamond in the sleeping hand of an unemployed widower. On a whim, he leaves two hundred dollars (money that Sam had given him) slipped underneath the door of a motel room where he knows three children are hungry and scared that their mother will not return.

He finds new species, lost coins, lost keys, he finds teddy bears long forgotten and well-loved sweaters that beg to be returned to their owners. Castiel finds a wealth of things as he searches the earth, with Dean's amulet cold in his clenched fingers.

He does not find God.

\--

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place during Castiel's offscreen God-finding quest in Season 5.


End file.
